


when all else fails, run to malibu

by Gabby



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: But you know the running away kind, Darcy Feels, Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Bonding, Father-Daughter Relationship, My First Work in This Fandom, Parent Tony Stark, Steve Feels, Tony Feels, Vacation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-25
Updated: 2014-11-25
Packaged: 2018-02-23 00:17:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2526968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gabby/pseuds/Gabby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy Lewis learns to work her many issues when she cuts and runs it all the way to California with her billionaire father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when all else fails, run to malibu

**Author's Note:**

> This could go either way, you guys. I've been on a spree lately of watching all of the Marvel movies of the past few years and after searching through the ol' archives have come out to the other side with a major jonsing of the Darcy/Steve variety. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy and that I don't screw up this pairing for you.

Tony sighed as he put down his phone after twenty minutes of e-mail checking, the slight bumps in the airplane ride jostling him mildly in his seat.

It had been a while since he'd gone back to California. He had gotten so used to New York - it's bustling, kinetic atmosphere, it's forever changing seasons - and calling the Avengers Tower his re-branded home that he hadn't really thought of that other half of his life.

It was a new something. A new beginning to his life. For he and Pepper. For his role as Iron Man.

 It was... a good thing.

He still went back and forth to California as often as he could to keep tabs on his rebuilt house and on his business empire and ventures.

But, now he was coming back for a newer, much more personal reason.

Speaking of which...

"Hey kid, you okay back there?" He asks over his shoulder to the young woman sitting in the back. Her shoulders slumped over as she stared out of his plane's window. The sunlight playing off of the small, golden shield necklace dangling off her pale clavicle.

Her head turned, light catching in the darkness of her hair as she moved. "I'm fine." She answered, though he had a hard time believing her.

 He let it go, though, for the moment.

It had been going on a year in a half since he had come to know Darcy Lewis. A year in which she had become one of his favorite people...

...And now going five months of that year since they had both come to know each other as father and daughter.

It hadn't been hard. After just a few months of knowing one another - and getting along _spectacularly_ well - they had both had their own separate suspicions. And none had voiced them in fear of any unwanted answers.

It still surprised him now how unreal and yet quick and simple it was.

A small blood test and that was it. It confirmed he had a daughter.

Darcy Lewis - Jane Foster's lab assistant, most Avenger's favorite human being, as big a wise ass as him - was his daughter. His flesh and blood. At least one half of his genetic make-up.

The best thing that could happen to him. Wrestling in first place with the day he'd hired Pepper Potts.

Granted, their relationship wasn't all that different than from before. Their relationship had been heading into familial territory even prior to the whole _by-the-way-you're-my-father-as-well-as-kinda-my-employer_ thing occurring.

He still called her Lewis or Darce (she didn't like Half-Pint much but he missed the opportunity to embarrass her during childhood so, _please_ ) just like he had before and she preferred to call him Stark or Ironhead or Tony. They still bantered back and forth like nothing had changed. The few differences being that he could personally put a name to those almost foreign protective feelings he had had since getting to know her.

And you know what? She now had the utmost privileges of everyone at the tower. The same tower she had moved into not soon after gaining her position as both the Avengers' kind of assistant and Dr. Jane Foster's paid lab goon.

Said assistant/well paid lab goon who had the highest security clearance than even the longest running SI employee.

Because he was her father. Daddard. Papa. So by birthright, she was welcome to all the parts of his life's work that he would allow her. _Fuck_ everybody.

Jesus.

"We'll be there soon, okay, kid?"

She looked at him a minute longer this time, a half-smile on her striking face. Her words infused with more positivity that lifted the heaviness that had been in his heart at seeing her so down. "Thanks, Tony."

And honestly, she didn't need to call him, you know, _dad_ or anything. Not a big deal.

It's just, it has been a few months, so it would be nice if she could- whatever, doesn't matter.

It had also been many months during this last year that Darcy had gotten to know not just of all of the members of the Avengers but, mostly one in particular - one Captain Steve Rogers.

Captain America, himself.

It seemed that the Cap had captured Darcy's attention since they had met during her introduction to the rest of the A-Team. Eyes wide and round in her head as she had taken in Mr. Big, Blonde, & Broad-shouldered.

Captain Straight Jaw hadn't exactly been subtle in his perusing of the small brunette. A lot less blatant than any other ass clown Ton had ever seen but, seriously, his then unknown fatherly spidey sense had been on high alert as Rogers flashed those stupid pearly whites at his daughter.

He hadn't been _spying_ , okay? He had been more watching - observing, if you will - as Capsicle and Darcy danced around each other. Their friendship growing to the point where they were kind of inseparable. Their bond a mix of effortless chemistry and almost shy flirtation and- OK, you know what? He was spying! It might have before they both knew but, he was her father so shove it! He had a _right_. Anyway...

It was obvious to everyone but, the two in question what was between them.

They all saw the way Darcy brightened up more the minute Steve visited her at Foster's lab. Or how she seemed to worry about him incessantly when they went away on a mission.

Or when said mission lasted a lot longer than expected and they came home, limping and exhausted and instead of getting his stubborn ass to the infirmary like he was supposed to, Rogers would instead head straight to Darcy, coming back to get checked up on in reasonably better moods than before.

He never thought that two people could hold a knack for taking up most of each other's personal time and also ignoring the big elephant in the room that was their own feelings.

(oh no, wait, he and Pepper... Well, _that_ took ten years so, he really wasn't an expert, was he?)

Not even his and Darcy's announcement to a roomful of super folk - a scientist with anger issues, a God, two assassins/spies, and the world's first ever Super Soldier, oh my - was enough to keep them apart. At all.

Than less two days ago, it had all but, changed.

It was another longer than expected mission. South Africa this time. A lot had gone wrong. Hulk had put Banner in a bit of a spot. They'd nearly lost both Widow and Hawkeye. He, despite being in the damn suit, had had his entire ass handed to him on a shit platter.

And Cap - _Jesus Christ, fucking Cap_ \- had put his stupid, selfless ass on the line and had succeeded in saving a burning building full of children.

Dumb, heroic son of a bitch that he was, the Captain still hadn't had enough time to get himself away from the goddamn structure himself.

He had almost been blown to Kingdom Come.

Even Thor, who was literally a fucking God amongst all of them, had his fair share of scrapes and wounds.

Rogers had needed the most attention when they had arrived back at the tower, enough to warrant an actual trip to a real hospital.

Full body cast. He had ended up in a full freakin' body cast.

And Darcy was... well, to say she was inconsolable would have been a _severe_ understatement.

She had gone to see Cap once and had avoided seeing him thereafter. Fluttering back and forth between everyone else as they mended their own wounds.

And by the time she had gathered her courage to go see Rogers again, after he had been moved back to the Tower, the body cast had come off thanks to his rapid healing, though a few casts were left in strategic areas, that Mantinee Idol mug of his looking less like a minor burn victim and more like he'd been run over one two many times and then stomped on.

They were all in the room when she finally came around, the amiable chit-chat falling away as she stepped into it sheepishly.

And Tony didn't know if he'd ever seen anybody with so much laser focus outside of a mission, as he had when Rogers's gaze had fallen on Darcy. Or vice versa.

They all left to give them some privacy and he could not tell you what had gone on in that room but, it had been bad enough that his only child had arrived in his Towers quarters late at night to tell him that she needed to get away.

Now, to others, that would be a time to spend time with family.

But, Darcy Lewis had none, really. Well before she had become involved with the Avengers, her mother had died and there was no other family to speak of.

The only blood she had around was one she had only found out about in the span of a year.

And now here he was, Tony Stark, billionaire extraordinaire, helping his only child run away from her problems - or you know, _problem_ , because Rogers - and wondering, not for the first time, if he was maybe making a mistake in doing so.

He wasn't an idiot because she _had_ come running to him in desperation right after that visit with Cap in his room - flashes of her trembling with dried tear steaks on her abnormally pale face still making his heart clench.

He was also no stranger to running away from your bag of issues when it became so heavy that it threatened to topple you over because hello, he had been on the verge of actually fucking dying and then, y'know, actually seeing the ol' white light for a little bit so, yeah.

But, again, he hoped wasn't adding further damage to Darcy's issues by helping her get as much distance, needed or not, between her and a worried, possibly _angry_ supersoldier.

 

 

 

 

By the time they arrived in Malibu, it was near dark and - judging by the growl in her own stomach - dinner time and it made Darcy wish she'd stayed back in New York long enough to at least get some pizza in her.

Like Ray's. She loved Ray's.

She nearly smiled as she remembered the last time she and Steve-

No. No.

She couldn't - She _wouldn't_ think about him.

She wouldn't think about meeting him for the first time during that Avengers debriefing. The smile he had levelled her way. The way her heart had reacted without her permission.

Or the ensuing months of a wonderful friendship that almost always had the promise of being _more_.

Or every single time a week or more without him felt like forever.

Or that every time he came home in one piece was putting a salve on her emotions.

Or that their shortest mission to date had ended in disaster and him in a body cast.

Or she was most definitely not gonna think about seeing him that final time in his makeshift hospital bed at the Tower. The way he had looked at her. Saying so much with so little.

That kiss.

She hadn't even had time to talk herself out of it as she'd leaned down after everyone had left the room to press her lips on his. Taking what felt like her first breath in a few days when he responded, melding up into her.

And then his whispered declaration near her lips after.

She didn't exactly remember running out of the room. Just ending up at her father's doorstep and begging him to take her away from New York for a while.

Of course, he was Tony Stark, so she expected the Spanish Inquisition when it came to questioning but, he'd surprised her by simply and efficiently calling on JARVIS to gather everything for their travel.

Now, here she was, Darcy Lewis, a certain scientist's lab assistant and certified Avengers normal, heading to Malibu, of all places with her recently found dad to run away from a man who'd given her his heart after almost getting himself killed.

Oh, she hoped she wouldn't regret this.

She somehow managed to swipe any complicated thought by the time they landed and she felt herself smiling for the first time in what felt like forever when she saw Happy waiting for them.

She liked Happy. He was good people. He always made her feel nice and welcome.

(Also, it was kind of his job or whatever but, the point was, he was _friendly_ and she appreciated that.)

"Hiya, Happy."

"Miss Lewis." He greeted in his usual manner and she could see a warm expression even through the shades he wore.

She simply cocked her brow in her patented _we've-talked-about-this_ kind of way.

And as usual, he chuckled under her scrutiny and amended. "I mean- _Darcy_ , good evening. May I take your bags for you?"

She smirked in typical Lewis fashion, feeling a bubble of her old self inside for the first time in a while. "Why, thank you, Happy Face, I thought you'd never ask."

And then after Tony got off the plane - _"she harangued you about the name thing again, didn't she?"_ \- they were off and she watched the California scenery through the car window, her father thumbing through his Starkphone next to her in surprising silence throughout.

It wasn't not like she disliked California or Los Angeles but, there were parts of it she couldn't love. The stupid trees. All the advertised plastic surgery. The stuck-up nosebleeders.The weather - god, who needed _that_ much sunlight year round? It must make people stupid, that much _sun_!

And she wasn't even remotely shocked at the house that was literally above the Malibu waters that the car stopped at finally.

(She got a bewildered sideways glance from said house owner when she mentioned how he could've just re-built it elsewhere because of his much televised misadventures with The Mandarin and it was like, _"what, daddy? I can't watch the news?"_ )

The place was basically a seaside home version of Avengers Towers. Exceedingly modern. All windows and glass. Architectural Digest's dream. And like, she didn't want to be wowed but, she _did_ grow up in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom one-story in small town Philly and literally, one of the first things she notices when she steps foot inside Shay Stark is the goddamn _water feature_ just to the side of the vast leaving room with a view so, yeah.

And as much as she wanted to, she didn't bother asking for the grand tour, instead asking to go to her room to get some rest and then some food because she really was starving.

She could pick apart her father's house another day.

"Jay?" He called out into the seemingly empty air of the house as they headed to the stairs. "Remind me, because there's a _slight_ chance I _mighta_ forgot, where my kid's room is, please?"

Darcy fought a smile as he said that because first of all, he _did_ forget even though he was the one to make the call to get her room ready to begin with and secondly, it was hard not to acknowledge the warmth in her chest with his following words.

It was... _pleasing_ to her.

And she would probably wanna tell the world mostly for kicks and he would probably (most definitely) deny it but, she sometimes wondered how much money she'd make if she sold the story of exactly how much Tony Stark enjoyed being her dad.

_Hm. More's the pity._

"Upstairs. At the end of the hall. Guest quarters your right, sir." The AI's smooth, British voice responded immediately.

"Thank you, JARVIS."

They headed up and per J-Man's directions ended up in a room that was a size too big to have any business being called the _'guest quarters.'_

"I'll see you down in a bit." Her father said from the doorway. "Any request for dinner?"

"Anything good and Indian." She said in her distraction in perusing her room.

"Got it, kid. Get some rest, 'kay?"

He was almost out of the door before she's able to open her mouth to say. "Tony?"

He stops, opening the door wider again and giving her an expectant look. "Yeah?"

She floundered for a minute, thinking about the stresses of the past few days - _Steve_ , her mind echoed needlessly - before she managed to add. "Thank you."

He nodded, something of a half-smile tugging at the corners of his mouth before he completely closed her door and she heard his footsteps receding down the hall.

She stared at her surrounding - dark wood paneling, warm reds and oranges, gorgeous chandelier above the large Queen she sat on - drinking in the vibe.

She held a breath in... and then out.

 

 

When Darcy woke up, it literally felt like hours since she'd fallen asleep though when she looked at her phone, the blinding blue light in her eyes aside, it said it had only been an hour and change for the whole of her nap.

And when she trotted downstairs following that long hallway, she was happy to note the smell of still pipping hot Indian somewhere nearby.

She found her father and Pepper sitting comfortably close to each other on his big couch, both tapping away at their perspective Starkpads.

She fought a chuckle. Sometimes it was hard to remember these two were a couple in love like most normal people.

"Tony. Pepper." Two heads turned towards her at the same time in perfect sync and she _did_ laugh this time. "Chillin' out, I see."

"Hi, Darcy." Pepper said pleasantly.

"Hey, kiddo." Tony greeted, tilting his head back over at her from the couch, smiling widely. "Food's on the kitchen counter. Got your favorite."

And sure enough, as she turned she spotted a few food containers on the granite countertop and her still grumbling tummy had her bouncing over there to get at all that delicious Indian. The bags containing a small emblem on the side reading _Bombay_ _Palace_ , inhaling the smell of wonderful spices and flavors as she opened up the various take-out holders.

"Hmm." She hummed, opening up one container of _garlic naan_ , grinning at the contents. "Thank you!" She yelled over her shoulder. "This is better than the pony you could have gotten my when I was little!"

"I could still get you one." Was the plaintive response she got behind her.

She laughed as she dug into some delightful _makhani chicken_ , mixing together a generous amount of it with steamed basmati rice. Dipping  _naan_ pieces into the sauce and mapping it up whilst she ate with a fork with the other hand.

She had gross eating habits. Sue her.

She was so caught up in enjoying her dinner that she barely noticed the presence next to her 'til a throat cleared and she looked up, mouth full, to see her father looking at her funny, his brow cocked and his face unusually concerned.

"What?" She snapped gracelessly, not even bothering to swallow the food in her mouth. Words coming muffled. "I didn't eat-" She chews and takes down her dinner. "-I didn't eat before we left. So, basically, it's been a day since I last ate. I'm starving!"

"I bought you a Shack burger for the plane ride." He deadpanned and she just rolled her eyes, taking another enormous bite of sauced up and chicken piled rice into her waiting mouth and chewing loudly, knowing full well it'd just annoy the fuck outta him.

"Very cute." He responded sarcastically, taking an unopened container and producing what she guessed was his own dinner and she wasn't surprised when he took out a steaming, spicy smelling container of _chicken biryani_ because for all of Tony Stark's tendencies to be unpredictable, he was, indeed, a creature of habit and he liked what he liked.

Something they both had in common. Other than their taste in loud music, recreational drinking, and a tendency to run off on short notice, apparently.

They fell into a comfortable silence. The only sounds being their slow chewing and the electronic noises of Tony's mansion. Pepper tapping at her tablet. The wiring of technology being heard.

It was nice... until.

"I got a call from Romanov while you were upstairs."

That may or may not have stopped her mid-chew. "Oh?"

"Rogers went to Europe."

Never let it be said that Tony didn't get to the point whenever was necessary.

And also, tact wasn't a thing.

There's a weighty, stilted quiet that followed his words while she finished the suddenly heavy bite of food in her mouth before being able to manage with. "Is he-?"

_Hurt?_ Is what she meant to ask because the mere thought of it made her heart wanna fall out of her body, even though she had no clue if she wanted to know about his physical or emotional state. The idea of him hurting out there.

Look at that, even miles and states between them and she still remained the world's biggest chickenshit.

As it was, she never got her question out because Tony interrupted her. "I don't know." She understood from under a mouthful of rice and chicken. "You're gonna have to ask him yourself."

Okay, _that_ part? That part she heard perfectly clear.

And it was like, wow, she would have thought he would have waited a little longer before saying something. Must be a new record. He usually opens his mouth within day or so of anything.

This was maybe the part where she's supposed to become emotional. Ask frantically if they knew exactly where Steve was. If he was okay. If anybody was with him.

But... she said nothing and ignored her father's curious side glance in her in her direction whilst, chewing on the food she had already lost an appetite for.

_Chickenshit._ Her mind whispers.

 

 

 

 

  
  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! :) My plan is to make it a two-shot with the second half being longer and detailing the weeks Darcy spends with Tony as well as the inevitable where she has to deal with Steve _but,_ even set plans can change and it could go either way. 
> 
> And it's really up to you. If you want more, let me know. This is my first go at these characters so, feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you again!


End file.
